First Place
by Izuru-chan
Summary: After the three captain's betrayal, Shuuhei wants to help Kira pick up the pieces and move on. But will he succeed when he learns how close Kira was with his former captain? Read and find out!


Okay! This is my first really good Bleach fic, so please be gentle! Also, this is boyxboy, so if that makes you uncomfortable, hit the backpace button right now, I seriously won't be offended. If you don't mind it, then please enjoy!

Also, I don't own Bleach, but I do own this idead, and the orange that Momo is eating!

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Kira almost jumped out of his seat when he felt fingers brush across the back of his neck. "Relax. You just had a hair." And he slumped down. "You scared me, Hisagi-sempai." But Shuuhei was frowning at the short pale hair in his grasp. "Are you going gray, Kira?" And Kira blushed, forcing a smile, and saying, "It must be stress." before dumping his mostly uneaten lunch in the trash and running off.

Shuuhei didn't put the clues together until the day after the betrayal, when he was visiting Hinamori in the fourth, and Kira came in. "Oh, forgive me, Hisagi-sempai. I'll go." "No, stay. I was just about to peel some fruit for her. You can help me." Kira slowly came over, and sat down next to Shuuhei. Momo turned her head towards him, and stared with blank brown eyes. "Good morning, Hinamori-kun." She mumbled a greeting, and then went back to staring out the window. Shuuhei peeled an orange in silence, cut it into sections for her, and pushed the plate into her limp hands. She took it without question, and mechanically began to eat. Kira had to look away. Shuuhei couldn't blame him. It hurt, watching her end up like this. And then he remembered the hair he found on Kira's uniform. "It wasn't yours." Kira turned towards him. "What was that?" "The hair…That day, I teased you about going gray…..But the hair wasn't yours, was it?" Shuuhei watched all the color drain from Kira's face. "It was silver, wasn't it? It didn't belong to you because it was his…How did it end up on you?" Kira mumbled something. "What?" "I said, leave me alone." "What was he doing to you?" "None of your business." "What was he doing to you?!" And he grabbed a fistful of Kira's uniform, pulling the blonde to his feet. Momo turned to stare at them. "Leave me alone! It's none of your business!" Shuuhei was beyond anger. The rage built inside him like a fire. He couldn't help himself. Kira was…so stupid…And he was angry at Ichimaru for doing this to Kira…And he was angry at Kira for letting it happen…And most of all, he was so fucking pissed at all the people who didn't notice, pretended not to notice, or just didn't do anything. _Like me…I knew…Somewhere in the back of my mind…I knew this was happening….I thought Kira would stop it himself._ _I'm just as bad because I didn't help him…_ And then he hit Kira. Hard as he could, which wasn't hard at all because his strength was ebbing away rapidly, but Kira was frail, and his lip split. Shuuhei watched the blood drip down his friend's chin in shock. _Is_ _that why Ichimaru hurt him? Because Kira looks good even covered in blood?_ He was about to apologize when a skinny but somehow powerful fist came up and bashed him in the temple. He saw stars for a moment, and then he was shoving Kira to the ground, hitting blindly at anything he could. Momo's side table was knocked over when Kira attempted to kick him off, and the comatose girl began to shriek at them.

It took five people to separate them. Momo sobbed in the background while Unohana scolded them. "This is certainly not the place for childish squabbling. I really expected better from you, Hisagi-san. And you, Kira-san, look how you've upset poor Hinamori-san." Her words stung for both of them. She implied that Shuuhei was just foolish and stupid, and that Kira was a problem child. "Now, we're supposed to working together to rebuild what it left of Soul Society after such a vicious attack, and we can not accomplish anything if our remaining soul reapers resort to fighting. Please return to your homes, and count yourselves lucky that I'm not going to report either of you."

Shuuhei walked silently next to Kira, still angry but calming down. He glanced slyly at Kira. The blonde was shocked at his own behavior. He stared at his hands while he walked, much in the same manner as when he drew his sword against Momo. "Hey, Kira, I'm sorry…" It hurt to speak. Kira was no stranger to dirty fighting, it seemed. He had gone straight for Shuuhei's throat with one hand while punching him in the jaw with the other. Shuuhei hadn't held back either. He just wanted to pound the stupidity out of Kira. "Sempai…I don't know what came over me…." "Hey, I threw the first punch…You were only defending yourself…Though I didn't expect you to be such a wild animal." Silence stretched between them, and then Kira began to laugh. Shuuhei stopped walking and stared at him. "I'm sorry, S-sempai…." But he couldn't get control of his giggle fit, and soon they were both on the floor, laughing hard with their heads thrown back. Once it passed, Kira wiped the tears from his flushed face, and gasped for air. "That felt good…." Shuuhei commented. "I'm sorry about hitting you, Sempai…." And then Shuuhei felt all the glee drain from him again. _You sure know_ _how to kill a mood, Kira_. But it wasn't Kira's fault. It was just his nature to apologize repeatedly. "I said it was fine, didn't I?" "yes, Sempai." "Good, now let's go get some tea." "But…Captain Unohana ordered us to go home…" "Oh yeah…Then let's go to my place for some tea." Kira looked a little hesitant. "I'm not gonna bite your head off. Come on."

Inviting Kira over for tea turned out to be a disaster. Shuuhei got distracted by the blonde, and ended up burning the water. The smell was awful. Kira opened the windows in the kitchen while Shuuhei looked mournfully at his blackened tea kettle. "Only you could do something like this, Sempai…" His eye twitched, and he knuckled the blonde boy's head. "What was that, Kira?" "Ow! Sorry!" Kira wriggled in Shuuhei's hold, and ended knocking them both to the floor, similar to how they were earlier, only Kira was on top, and they weren't trying to beat the shit out of each other. "Sorry Sempai…" Shuuhei was too surprised to move. Kira's big blue eyes were staring nervously at him, and the blonde looked ready to cry if Shuuhei confessed to being hurt. He wasn't. Far from it. He was quite comfortable where he was. Kira radiated warmth despite being so thin, and his eyes were dazzling right now. He decided his new favorite color was sky blue. "Sempai, are you alright?" Kira was sweet. Shuuhei closed his eyes. So sweet…..And he kissed Kira.

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OOH! I love how I ended this, and I hope you all did too! Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I've got a fever right now, and my little overheated brain couldn't think of anything right now! Will update soon!


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